In his latest edition of “Monday Morning Quarterback”, Peter King writes that Trent Edwards wanted Bills’ chief operating office Russ Brandon to pursue Terrell Owens.
“How about T.O.?”
Bills chief operating office Russ Brandon woke up sometime after midnight Friday morning and noticed there was a text message on his cell phone. So he reached over and looked. It was from Trent
Edwards, the quarterback of the Bills. “How about T.O.?” That’s all it said.Brandon shot back with this: “?”
“T.O. was released. Go get him,” Edwards texted back.
Brandon still seemed surprised when I spoke to him late Sunday. “I went back to sleep,” he said, “but I was stunned by it. The next morning, [coach] Dick Jauron and I talked, and he said, ‘I think it’s something we certainly should take a look at.’ I put a call into [owner] Ralph Wilson, and he said, ‘Absolutely look into it.”’
And that was it. The only team to seriously kick the tires on Owens got its man a day later for three major reasons:
1. The Bills think Jauron is the perfect coach — calm but commanding — to handle Mount Terrell.
2. The organization is sick of perpetually being one weapon away from catching New England (and Miami and the Jets, as it turns out), and it’s willing to take the risk of having Owens ruin the locker room so it can have a chance to win the division.
3. The Bills did the one-year deal for a fairly strategic reason, in my opinion. Owens is good when he’s trying to make a good first impression.
If Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb and Tony Romo read this, they no doubt laughed at how naïve Edwards is when it comes to what T.O. brings to a locker room. But at least the Bills knew Edwards was completely on board when they decided to pursue Owens.
There’s no doubt that Buffalo could use T.O.’s talent, but Edwards is in for a rude awakening. There was a Monday night game that the Bills played last season against the Browns. In that game, Edwards was petrified to pass the ball more than 5-10 yards and settled for check downs to Marshawn Lynch instead of going downfield. That’s a game where T.O. would no doubt express his frustration in a dysfunctional manner. I don’t think the signing was bad (especially since the Bills only signed him to a one-year deal), but hopefully Edwards and Co. know what they’re getting into.
